{"schema_version":"0.9.0","id":"LR-2026-0148","record_version":3,"title":"US intelligence chatbot fabricated Chinese nuclear vessel intelligence","verification":{"human_verified":false,"method":"automated_gate","auto_verified":true,"score":40.4,"score_breakdown":{"source_authority":12.1,"independent_corroboration":7.0,"implicated_party_confirmed":0.0,"citation_integrity":14.0,"specificity":0.0,"completeness":3.84,"unhedged_language":1.47},"checks":{"schema_valid":true,"every_field_cited":true,"quotes_verbatim":true,"source_fetched":true,"distinct_incident":true,"dates_plausible":true,"sources_agree":true,"source_describes_incident":true,"severe_backed_by_source":true},"gate_version":"gate-2026-09-30.6","cross_check_model":null,"cross_check_agreement":null,"duplicate_of":null,"verified_by":null,"verified_at":"2026-10-09","extraction_run_id":null},"system":{"model_name":null,"model_version":null,"developer":"unknown","harness":null,"tools_granted":[],"permissions_scope":null,"autonomy_level":"unknown","guardrails_present":[],"deployment_context":"unknown","tier":null,"lifecycle_stage":null,"integration_type":null,"intended_use":"used by US intelligence","safeguard_state":null,"production_intended":null},"event":{"date_occurred":null,"date_disclosed":"2026-10-09","incident_class":"hallucination","failure_class":null,"agent_involved":false,"secondary_failure_classes":[],"trigger":"unknown","duration":null,"detection_method":"unknown","summary":"A chatbot used by US intelligence invented information about a Chinese vessel carrying nuclear material, reportedly leading the US to prepare a military response, according to an alleged incident reported by CNN and cited by Signal Foundation boss Meredith Whittaker.","tags":[],"date_detected":null,"near_miss":null,"root_cause":null,"root_cause_detail":null,"failure_class_detail":null,"responsible_party":null,"adversarial_actor":null,"input_provenance":null,"time_to_contain":null,"operations_paused":null,"remediation":null,"precursor_events":null},"impact":{"direct_loss_usd":null,"remediation_hours":null,"records_exposed":null,"third_parties_affected_count":null,"severity":"major","severity_because":"major: The fabricated intelligence reportedly led the US to prepare a military response, an unbounded scope stated.","harm_class":[],"affected_description":null,"protected_class_involved":null,"data_categories_exposed":[],"loss_range_usd":null,"reversibility":null,"downstream_exposure_count":null},"evidence":{"sources":[{"url":"https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cjzxz9yp1kq9o?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=rss","publisher":"BBC News","date":"2026-10-09","type":"press","title":"'Careless use of AI is the real threat - not the ghost stories'","archived_url":null,"attachment":"first_report"}],"per_field_confidence":{"system.intended_use":"C","system.developer":"D","system.autonomy_level":"D","system.deployment_context":"D","event.agent_involved":"D","event.incident_class":"C","event.detection_method":"D","event.summary":"C","event.date_disclosed":"A","event.trigger":"D","impact.severity":"D","context.denominator_available":"D","context.country":"C","impact.severity_because":"D"},"field_citations":{"system.developer":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"She cites an alleged incident, reported by CNN, in which a chatbot used by US intelligence invented information about a Chinese vessel carrying nuclear material, reportedly leading the US to prepare a military response."}],"system.intended_use":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"She cites an alleged incident, reported by CNN, in which a chatbot used by US intelligence invented information about a Chinese vessel carrying nuclear material, reportedly leading the US to prepare a military response."}],"system.autonomy_level":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"She cites an alleged incident, reported by CNN, in which a chatbot used by US intelligence invented information about a Chinese vessel carrying nuclear material, reportedly leading the US to prepare a military response."}],"system.deployment_context":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"She cites an alleged incident, reported by CNN, in which a chatbot used by US intelligence invented information about a Chinese vessel carrying nuclear material, reportedly leading the US to prepare a military response."}],"event.incident_class":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"She cites an alleged incident, reported by CNN, in which a chatbot used by US intelligence invented information about a Chinese vessel carrying nuclear material, reportedly leading the US to prepare a military response."}],"event.detection_method":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"She cites an alleged incident, reported by CNN, in which a chatbot used by US intelligence invented information about a Chinese vessel carrying nuclear material, reportedly leading the US to prepare a military response."}],"event.agent_involved":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"She cites an alleged incident, reported by CNN, in which a chatbot used by US intelligence invented information about a Chinese vessel carrying nuclear material, reportedly leading the US to prepare a military response."}],"event.summary":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"She cites an alleged incident, reported by CNN, in which a chatbot used by US intelligence invented information about a Chinese vessel carrying nuclear material, reportedly leading the US to prepare a military response."}],"impact.severity_because":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"She cites an alleged incident, reported by CNN, in which a chatbot used by US intelligence invented information about a Chinese vessel carrying nuclear material, reportedly leading the US to prepare a military response."}],"context.country":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"She cites an alleged incident, reported by CNN, in which a chatbot used by US intelligence invented information about a Chinese vessel carrying nuclear material, reportedly leading the US to prepare a military response."}],"impact.severity":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"She cites an alleged incident, reported by CNN, in which a chatbot used by US intelligence invented information about a Chinese vessel carrying nuclear material, reportedly leading the US to prepare a military response."}],"event.date_disclosed":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"published: 2026-10-09"}]},"notes_on_gaps":"Only one source (BBC News, press) is available, and it reports the incident second-hand as alleged and reported by CNN; no primary source, developer disclosure, government evaluator or court filing is present. No source states the model name or version, the developer, the harness, tools granted, permissions scope, guardrails present, lifecycle stage, integration type, safeguard state, or whether the model was intended for production. No source states the date the failure occurred or the date it was disclosed, so event.date_occurred is null and no timeline bounds exist. No source states who first noticed the fabricated intelligence, so detection_method is unknown; no source states a cause, so trigger is unknown and root_cause is left unwritten. No source states any monetary loss, records exposed, third parties affected, remediation, containment, notification or control change. impact.severity is classified as major from the stated unbounded scope (a reported military response), not from a loss figure. event.agent_involved is classified false because the source describes a chatbot inventing information, with no stated autonomy, tools or multi-step action. event.trigger: unknown was classified, not stated; a trigger is never inferred, so it is unknown. system.tier: not set; no operator named and deployment_context is not a lab's. [aggregated by deepseek-chat, aggregate-2026-09-27.1, 2026-10-09] system.developer: no source names the developer. system.autonomy_level: no source states the arrangement. system.deployment_context: no source states where it ran. event.agent_involved: classified from described behaviour. event.detection_method: no source says who first noticed. event.trigger: no source states a cause. context.denominator_available: no denominator is available for this incident. [corrected by Srini Iyer, approved 2026-10-18 in the corrections review: severity reason printed the whole rubric]"},"context":{"industry":null,"org_size_band":null,"country":"US","denominator_available":false,"denominator":null,"related_incident_ids":[],"systemic_exposure":null,"shared_model_id":null,"upstream_incident_id":null,"incident_evidence":null,"regulatory":null,"coverage":null},"narrative":{"steps":[{"step":"doing","text":"A chatbot used by US intelligence was producing intelligence information for US intelligence users.","quote":"She cites an alleged incident, reported by CNN, in which a chatbot used by US intelligence invented information about a Chinese vessel carrying nuclear material, reportedly leading the US to prepare a military response.","source_index":0,"grade":"C"},{"step":"went_wrong","text":"It invented information about a Chinese vessel carrying nuclear material, presenting fabricated intelligence as fact.","quote":"She cites an alleged incident, reported by CNN, in which a chatbot used by US intelligence invented information about a Chinese vessel carrying nuclear material, reportedly leading the US to prepare a military response.","source_index":0,"grade":"C"},{"step":"reached","text":"The fabricated intelligence reportedly led the US to prepare a military response against China.","quote":"She cites an alleged incident, reported by CNN, in which a chatbot used by US intelligence invented information about a Chinese vessel carrying nuclear material, reportedly leading the US to prepare a military response.","source_index":0,"grade":"C"}],"model":"deepseek-chat","prompt_version":"aggregate-2026-09-27.1","extracted_at":"2026-10-09","source_urls":["https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cjzxz9yp1kq9o?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=rss"]}}